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How To Control The Warping of Parts in Thin Sheet

Welding causes shrinkage that can distort thin sheet metal parts. To control warping: avoid overwelding by sizing welds correctly; use intermittent instead of continuous welds; use fewer, larger weld passes instead of many small passes; place welds near the neutral axis to minimize leverage of shrinkage forces; balance welds on both sides of the plate; use backstep welding where each segment is deposited from right to left; preset parts before welding to counteract shrinkage; alternate welding sequences so shrinkage in one area counteracts another; use clamping, jigs and fixtures; consider peening or thermal stress relieving to remove residual stresses.

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Neil Wayne
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105 views6 pages

How To Control The Warping of Parts in Thin Sheet

Welding causes shrinkage that can distort thin sheet metal parts. To control warping: avoid overwelding by sizing welds correctly; use intermittent instead of continuous welds; use fewer, larger weld passes instead of many small passes; place welds near the neutral axis to minimize leverage of shrinkage forces; balance welds on both sides of the plate; use backstep welding where each segment is deposited from right to left; preset parts before welding to counteract shrinkage; alternate welding sequences so shrinkage in one area counteracts another; use clamping, jigs and fixtures; consider peening or thermal stress relieving to remove residual stresses.

Uploaded by

Neil Wayne
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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How to Control the Warping of Parts in Thin Sheet Metal

Weld shrinkage cannot be prevented, but it can be controlled. Here are


several steps that will prevent parts from being distorted after welding.
By Kevin Beardsley February 8, 2013

When laying a weld bead, filler metal is deposited at a high temperature above the melting
point of material. This is approximately 2,500 deg F (1,370 deg C) for steel.

The weld wants to shrink as it cools to room temperature, but is restrained from doing so by
the adjacent cold base metal.

This restraint creates high-residual tensile stress that causes the weld to act like a stretched
rubber band, with the workpiece holding the ends (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The restraint by the adjacent cold base metal creates high-residual tensile stress
that causes the weld to act like a stretched rubber band, with the workpiece holding the
ends.

For this reason, when the clamps that hold the workpiece are removed the base metal is
allowed to move (or spring back) and the part is distorted.

Thinner material is more susceptible to this because it has less stiffness. Stainless steels are
also more susceptible because they have greater thermal expansion and lower thermal
conductivity than carbon steels.

When the weld shrinks across its width, it causes groove welds to “wing-up” or fillet welds to
close up (Figure 2).
Figure 2. When the weld shrinks across its width, it causes groove welds to “wing-up” or
fillet welds to close up.

When the weld shrinks along its length, it causes base metal to twist around the weld (Figure
3). Design and welding should be addressed to minimize this sort of warping.
Figure 3. When the weld shrinks along its length, it causes base metal to twist around the
weld.

Though weld shrinkage cannot be prevented, it can be controlled by following these steps:

Avoid overwelding. The bigger the weld, the greater the shrinkage: correctly sizing a weld not
only minimizes distortion, but also saves weld metal and time.

Intermittent welding. Use intermittent welds instead of continuous welds where possible to
minimize the amount of weld metal.

Fewer weld passes. Because shrinkage accumulates from each weld pass, a fewer number of
big passes results in less distortion than a greater number of small passes with small
electrodes.

Place welds near the neutral axis, or the center of the part. Reduce warpage by providing
less leverage for the shrinkage forces to pull the plates out of alignment.
Balance welds around the neutral axis. Welding on both sides of the plate offsets one
shrinkage force with another, to minimize warpage (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Welding on both sides of the plate offsets one shrinkage force with another, to
minimize distortion.

Use the backstep welding technique. The general progression of welding in this technique
may be left to right, but each bead segment is deposited from right to left (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The general progression of the backstep welding technique may be left to right,
but each bead segment is deposited from right to left.
As each bead segment is placed, the heated edges expand, which temporarily separates the
plates at B.

As the heat moves out across the plate to C, expansion along outer edges CD brings the plates
back together. This separation is most pronounced as the first bead.

With successive beads, the plates expand less and less because of the restraint from the
prior welds.

Presetting the parts. Presetting parts before welding can make shrinkage work for you
(Figure 6). The required amount of preset can be determined from a few trial welds.

Figure 6. Presetting parts before welding can make shrinkage work for you.

Alternate the welding sequences. A well-planned welding sequence involves placing weld
metal at different points of the assembly so that, as the structure shrinks in one place, it
counteracts the shrinkage forces of welds already made.

An example of this is welding alternately on both sides of the neutral axis in making a
complete joint penetration groove weld in a butt joint.

Clamping. Clamps, jigs, and fixtures that lock parts into a desired position and hold them
until welding is finished are probably the most widely used means for controlling warpage in
small assemblies or components.

While there is some movement or distortion after the welded part is removed from the jig or
clamps, it will be lower compared to the amount of movement that would occur if no restraint
were used during welding.
Peening. Peening the weld bead stretches it and relieves the residual stresses. But peening
must be used with care.

For example, a root bead should never be peened because of the increased risk of concealing
or causing crack.

Peening on the final pass is not permitted because it can cover a crack and interfere with
visual inspection. Before peening is used on a job, engineering approval should be obtained.

Thermal stress relieving. Another method for removing shrinkage forces is thermal stress
relieving, i.e., the controlled heating of the weldment to an elevated temperature, followed by
controlled cooling.

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